A Framework for Shaping the Deployment of Autonomous Vehicles and Advanced Equity Outcomes: Knight Autonomous Vehicle Initiative

38 pagesJust a year or so ago, it seemed that fleets of autonomous vehicles (AVs) would soon be deployed on city streets providing a robo-taxi service like Uber and Lyft—just without a driver. The timeline for commercial deployments of AVs has been significantly delayed by the technological challenges associated with safely deploying driverless vehicles, as well as by the COVID-19 pandemic. Even during the pandemic, however, automakers and technology companies continued to conduct research and test a range of autonomous vehicles—freight trucks on freeways, passenger vehicles on city streets, and smaller vehicles transporting goods on streets, in bike lanes, and on sidewalks—to develop commercial use cases and prepare for deployment. AV technology has the potential to have major impacts on cities, both positive and negative. AVs could increase safety and help reduce congestion and pollution, but they could very well exacerbate existing inequities if they are simply layered on to the problematic and car-dependent transportation ecosystems that exist today. Chances are that AVs will be deployed eventually, and many states are already enacting legislation that preempts local decision making. As a result, communities across the United States understand that they need to plan for AVs before they arrive in order to maximize the potential benefits. The current moment provides an opportunity for the public sector to be proactive in shaping the deployment, applying lessons learned from the deployment of transportation network companies (TNCs), e-scooters, and other new mobility technologies. With support from the Knight Foundation, the cities of Detroit, Pittsburgh, San Jose, and Miami-Dade County in Florida—the “cohort”—are actively working to understand how AVs can be deployed in ways that reflect community input and meet local needs. They are working with residents, employees, and business and community leaders to better understand mobility needs and how AV deployment can help achieve community goals

Perfecting Policy with Pilots: New Mobility and AV Urban Delivery Pilot Project Assessment

149 pagesThe purpose of this study is to go beyond cataloging pilot projects to determine the lessons learned, emerging trends and considerations, and examples of promising practices from pilot projects in the United States and Canada. Researchers assessed 220 pilot projects and 11 case studies. Based on that assessment, they recommend 10 actions for pilot projects generally. The study resulted in 31 lessons learned organized by pilot goals, evaluation, implementation, outcomes, and policy and infrastructure implications

COVID-19 - Impacts on Cities and Suburbs: Key Takeaways Across Multiple Sectors

20 pagesHow is the COVID-19 pandemic changing urban living? In this paper, we explore the landscape of COVID-19 disruptions to date on land use and real estate, urban design, building design, transportation, e-commerce and retail, and goods delivery. We also highlight the longer-term questions and potential ongoing impacts COVID-19 might have on the built environment

COVID-19 Impacts on Cities and Suburbs: Impacts to the Urbanism Next Framework

34 pagesBefore the pandemic, Urbanism Next developed a framework organizing the disruptions to cities caused by emerging transportation technologies on land use, urban design, building design, transportation, and real estate. COVID-19 has disrupted the trajectory of these emerging technologies and will, in turn, change some our original assumptions. This paper revisits the original Urbanism Next framework, taking into account the cascading impacts of the pandemic. This report is one of two reports completed by Urbanism Next on the impacts of Covid-19

Perceptions of Air Quality and Smoke in Oakridge, Oregon Perceptions Oregon: Results from pilot interviews with key informants

25 pagesThis report summarizes the results of the Oakridge Air community key informant (or community leader) interviews on air quality and smoke. This research was conducted as a pilot project to discern community understanding, perceptions, and awareness of air quality and smoke issues in the Oregon communities of Oakridge and Westfir, and to inform a survey to be distributed to households in Oakridge-Westfir for further study. Oakridge has historically been ranked among the top 20 communities in the United States with the worst air quality due to high concentrations of particulate matter (PM2.5) from home wood heating (wood stove) and wildfire smoke. Due to the steep topography of the area and Oakridge’s location in a basin-shaped valley bottom, the community is prone to atmospheric inversions that trap seasonal wildfire smoke and wintertime home heating woodsmoke in the community.Funding for this project was provided by a University of Oregon Resilience Initiative seed funding grant. This project was conducted in partnership with Oakridge Air, a community-level program funded by the US Environmental Protection Agency and Lane Regional Air Protection Agency, that seeks to mitigate health threats from smoke-related air quality in Oakridge, Oregon